A Wedding Gift
by Tora II
Summary: "Yukina stepped away from the crowd and into the shade of the wood surrounding the temple. It wouldn't take more than a few moments for them to miss her, being the bride and all, but the psychic call was insistent."


A/N: I've been sitting on this story for quite sometime, and finally decided to post it. I adore Hiei and Yukina, and I've always loved fics that featured them acting like siblings. I hope you all enjoy this!

Disclaimer: Is this really necessary?

A Wedding Gift

The ceremony had been a quiet affair at Genkai's temple. It was early summer, the air still retained the fresh new smell of green, growing things and the sun was warm rather than oppressive. Keiko said that they couldn't have asked for better weather, and Yukina agreed. It was a wonderful day. Well, it was ending wonderfully anyway. The morning had been predictably hectic, full of short tempers, lost bouquets, a missing groomsman (Okubo had gotten lost on the way to the temple), and all the general chaos resulting from a wedding.

In the end, the ceremony had gone off without a hitch. Genkai officiated, since no one really knew how they would explain some of the audience to a normal JP. Kazuma had looked somewhere between ecstatic and panicked throughout the whole ordeal, and Yukina couldn't stop smiling.

It wasn't just because she'd managed to spit in the faces of her Koorime kin, they would have had apoplectic fits if they knew she'd even considered marriage. Never mind marriage to a human. She supposed that was her father's influence, the vindictive glee she felt at being able to mentally tell her people to shove it where the snow wouldn't fall. That was just a bonus, the real joy came from the fact that Kazuma loved her, she loved him, and their children would be granted all the affection she'd never felt when she was young.

She smiled up at her husband-to-be, wrapping his larger hand in her small one and squeezed. Some color trickled back to his face as he smiled back.

Yukina stepped away from the crowd and into the shade of the wood surrounding the temple. It wouldn't take more than a few moments for them to miss her, being the bride and all, but the psychic call was insistent.

There was no threat. She knew in her blood and bones that the person beckoning her never raise a finger to harm her, even if he didn't.

He was waiting for her just out of sight of the party, dampening his aura so that the black flame was muted embers. He turned to face her as she approached, red eyes and pale face as unreadable as ever.

"Hiei," she said with a smile. "Won't you join us? Everyone would be glad to see you." She shoved aside her anger, her bitterness and tried to empathize. Whatever his reasons for lying to her, they must be valid ones, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She was just enough her mother's daughter to push the temper down and just be glad that he'd come at all. She truly hadn't expected to see him today, or possibly ever again for that matter.

He gave her a Look that said quite plainly I-don't-_do_-parties, before he reached into his pocket and pulled out something that she couldn't see. He approached her carefully, watching her as though he expected her to bolt at any moment.

"Hold out your hand," he said, quietly.

Curious now, she did as he asked, watching his face for any clues as to what was going on.

He emptied his hand into her palm and stepped back. Yukina gave him another bemused look before turning her attention to the necklace in her hands.

She almost let her temper go. Hadn't she told him before to keep it? Her necklace had been a gift to him, why was he giving it back to her now? What could he-?

Wait...

She peered closer, lifting the hiruseki to her face for a closer look. It was identical to hers, solid pale blue like snow and robin's egg, but it didn't _feel_ like her stone. This one was warmer, not physically, but psychically, a darker, more sincere affection than what her mother had felt for her. The tear her mother had shed for her had been a comfort, joyous at the moment of birth, as all Koorime were. But the one Hina had shed for her son had been joy at the birth, sorrow at the loss of the father, and a love that no Koorime mother had ever held for her daughter. A love built from choice. Koorime maidens gave birth to their daughters whether or not they wanted a child, but her brother had been conceived at their mother's choice. She had chosen to give birth to her son in a way she hadn't been able to choose with her daughter.

All that was bound up in this tiny, round gem that sat in the center of her palm. Was he-? Did he really mean to-?

She looked up at Hiei, a stray tear bouncing against the ground as it crystallized.

He averted his eyes from hers. "It's a wedding gift," he said, flatly. "Do what you like with it."

He turned and crouched, preparing to leap away.

"Wait!" Yukina lunged forward and grabbed his arm just as he pushed off, sending them both crashing to the ground in an ungraceful heap.

Hiei pushed himself up to stare at her, bewildered. "What are you-?"

"You _idiot_," she snapped, furiously drying her eyes on her sleeve. "I've been searching for you for decades, then I found you but you wouldn't even acknowledge me and now that you've finally told me, do you really think I'd let you leave me again?"

"You _knew_?" He said, incredulous. "This whole time?"

"Of course I knew! How could I not? I didn't say anything because you must have had your reasons, but now..." She stared up at him, red eyes wide and shining with unshed tears. "You've finally come to me."

His shoulders slumped and he averted his eyes. "I didn't think you would want to know me, not after the things I've done."

Yukina stared at him and couldn't decide whether to be relieved or annoyed with him. All this time, she'd been afraid that he had disapproved of her, that he thought her too weak to be his sibling. Had he really believed that she would want nothing to do with him just because he'd killed? What did he think she had done in the years she'd spent scouring the Demon Plane for him? Let other demons try to kill her?

"I don't care what you've done," she stated. She took his face in her hands and forced him to meet her eyes. "You're my brother and it doesn't matter."

His eyes were wide and bewildered as he stared down at her, almost like he didn't quite trust what he was hearing. Like he wanted desperately to believe it, but wasn't sure he dared.

Yukina pushed herself up to her feet and extended a hand to him. "Come on, they're sure to be wondering where I've gone."

Hiei accepted her hand and rose with a scowl. "The idi-."

Yukina smacked him on the arm. Hiei blinked down at the spot where she'd hit him, and then back at her, gaping. She bit back a giggle at the look. She'd seen Shizuru do the same thing to Kazuma when she thought he was being foolish, and she was glad to see it had a similar affect on Hiei.

Yukina smiled sweetly. "Kazuma is now your brother-in-law. You don't get to call him that anymore."

He scowled at her. "The hell I don't. He's still a fool."

Yukina planted her fists on her hips, just as she'd seen Keiko do, and glared at him.

He scowled right back, crossing his arms over his chest. The air grew frigid in a matter of moments and her red eyes were flat and cold. Hiei held her gaze and wondered if his eyes didn't do the same thing when he was angry. This was an aspect of sibling-hood he'd never even dared to consider. He'd expected her to treat him as she always did, with a distant politeness underlied by the fact that they happened to share the same blood. He'd never expected her to accept him, never mind bicker with him like he'd seen the oaf and his sister doing on a number of occasions. Nor had it ever occurred to him that Yukina would _win_ these fights.

"Fine!" He threw his arms up in defeat. "But only for today." He turned and started towards the sounds of the party. He could hear people calling for her, wondering where she'd disappeared to. The buff-Kuwabara's voice was the most distinct.

Yukina hurried after him and he grudgingly slowed his pace so that she could walk alongside.

"Why do you hate him so much?" she asked.

He glanced over at her, pausing a moment to notice his hiruseki around her neck. He turned his gaze forward, the lights and streamers from the party showing through the trees.

". . . I don't hate him," he grumbled after a moment. "He's a reckless imbe -. . . _human_." He shot her a glare from the corner of his eyes and she smiled too sweetly back. "Who lives by a ridiculous moral code that will get him, or someone else, killed someday. He has no sense of when to speak or when to be silent, and he wouldn't know subtlety if it bit him. But," he gritted his teeth. She was married to the man, she deserved to hear this, so long as no one else did. "But . . . I will admit that he is a good man and a capable fighter. If you tell him I said so, I will make your life a misery."

Yukina smiled impishly. "I look forward to it."


End file.
